,Jack Scott writes

On Reading a Poem Aloud

Don’t rush
toward poem’s end,
stumbling over 
half-remembered words 
in lines rigidly arow 
before your darting eyes 
like chilly penguins.

Speak each stanza 
as though it’s not a poem 
held stiffly like a hymnal, 
and then it won’t be, 
but a voice more like your own 
that speaks through you 
which you as well are eager 
to hear it for the first time.

Forget déjà vu, 
this is new to you 
no matter how much 
you have rehearsed. 
This is creation too, 
and you’re Creator, 
bringing poet’s words 
again to life and to 
the lives before you. 
Reincarnation is your job 
with you in all the roles.

Savor the flavor 
of the words, 
let them linger 
on your tongue 
until they’ve passed,
become the next, 
and you along with them 
speaking them as easily, 
invisibly as breathing, 
depersonalizing. This 
is not about you.

Enjoy your dialog 
with your co-creator. 
Immerse yourself in bounty 
of the poem’s language 
fully in the moment, 
then the next, 
again and then again 
until the curtain 
will be a fresh surprise 
every single time.
 
 Charles Baudelaire -- Gustave Courbet